Truly Disconnected
by Karri021
Summary: In an attempt to save his family, Mac sacrifices everything in a heartbeat, unsure if he will ever heal again. Jack can only hope that Mac hangs on until they can sort it all out.


ScarletWitch7, AO3: A prompt from me would be a Mac whump story where he has a permanent loss of speech or hearing, and the team has to deal with that. It could be from a recent incident or he was born with it. It would be interesting to see the team dynamic if Mac was deaf or mute.

(Reference from 1985 version, but placed in 2016 for plot convince)

VENEZUELA 3:02 PM

Jack was very superstitious in every way, so usually, before they flew halfway around the world to fight a group of terrorists Jack wouldn't jinx anything. This time was different, this time it was equipped with a pat on the back before the mission had begun. Matty had told them it was simple, go to the office, get Riley as close as she needed and get out. No fighting, no guns, no bombs, no getting chased. But of course, that was all a normal Tuesday for them by now. Mac half expected it but also wished that for once when Matty said simple, she meant simple. He also wished that he had listened to Jack and been more superstitious and believed in luck once in a while and not just scientific probability. Although he had probably used all his good luck for the year and over that and was endowed to some bad luck, it was just the worst possible time to collect on that.

LA 7:08 AM

"What took you so long?" Matty crossed her arms as two agents strode in casually late. "Blondie, Dalton. Seriously leave the house earlier in the morning if you are so inept to the schedule that we must keep."

"Sorry." Mac blushed. Although he and Jack had always stopped to talk to the sweet office staff in the morning and get updates about the grandkids once in a while between exchanging secret tips to fix their perspective houses, which Jack did not mind because he was pretty sure that she had winked at him on a few occasions. They were pretty sure that Matty knew why they were late everyday because she's Matty and she knows everything but decided to keep quiet about it due to the fact it made the front desk staff happy. Mac was indeed the office favorite and Jack's personal wingman on some instances.

"Now that we are all here, let us go over the very time sensitive case." Matty clicked a button and images flew to the screen. "Yesterday in Venezuela we got word that a private organization has some private information that has yet to be accessed."

"Let me guess, that info doesn't belong to them, does it?" Bozer had his arms behind his back and was swaying back and forth nervously. Mac made a mental note to talk to his roommate, who had spent the night with Leanna the night previous.

"No it doesn't, and the contents are enough to start a war." Matty singled out Riley with her eyes. "I need Riley to get close enough to the building to erase the data, no retrieval, just erase the data from the base and implant a bug within the systems in order to copy all their business receipts."

"Got it. But how? I doubt they are going to just open a back door to me." Riley glanced at her computer and already wondered what type of systems they had installed and the time estimates it would take to locate the file and its multiple backups.

"No, but they do run a company as the face of their dirty business. They use the building as a known money laundering transport, that's why the Venezuelan government needs our help to get hardcore evidence to take them down."

"No offense but besides the threat of war, what does it have to do with the US?" Jack who was now sitting in one of the recliners.

"That information has top-secret mission details from American agents along with other top-secret missions from other countries that enlisted our help. We aren't sure how they got their hands on it, but we know they have it. Mac is now Alex Michaels. Riley is Bianca Thompson. Bozer is Sheldon Leonards. You three are college students from Stanford who have entered into a study abroad course and are now interns at the cover-up business."

"And me?" Jack sat up straight after Matty swatted at his feet to remove them from the coffee table, which Mac had grabbed a paperclip from and his Swiss Army Knife already bending it.

"You are Stan Cobblinger the janitor."

"Really Stan the janitor?"

"Well you aren't a spring chicken anymore and sure in the hell wouldn't pass as a college student. And how else are you supposed to interact with the building and its inhabitants without getting noticed?"

"What about their previous janitor? Surely they won't trust just anyone walking around their base of operations."

"They were in need of a janitor so Stan was conveniently transferred."

"Why are they letting students an internship there anyway?"

"To keep up the face of a family friendly and internationally accepting business. I don't know Jack! Ask them once you get there." Matty shook her head. "Anyway. All further mission details such as the size of the file, name and etc. will be located in your mission briefings which you can read on the way. We have to cut the briefing short due to the delay in our start." Matty eyed the two agents who avoided eye contact religiously. "Wheels up in twenty people, gear up and go."

"Sounds like an easy one, doesn't it Mac?" Jack said as he gave his partner a sturdy pat on the back.

"Yeah, it kinda does, but any major crime bust starts to sound like a walk in the park now." Mac set down the paperclip in which he had seamlessly bent into the shape of Venezuela.

VENEZUELA 3:01 PM

The mission was a success, so to speak. They still ended up getting shot at, they still ended up getting chased, but they did what they came to do. The building had been evacuated to avoid any gunfire or hostage situations that would include civilians. As Mac and the team walked out of the building the saw multiple medical vehicles and police cars that had got alerted by the first gunshot and arrived just after the last. With Jack, Riley, and Bozer walking in front of him, he felt as if he were missing something. Something just wasn't right, and he was correct in this sixth sense like feeling.

There was a click behind him and Mac turned to see a man in a vest with wires protruding from it and a gun in one hand. But what Mac didn't see was what was in his other hand, but by the time he did, it was too late. There was no time to alert Jack to the man's presence or even take cover, but what there was time for was Mac's instinct to grab the loose panel of one of the metal cabinets that was a casualty in their earlier encounter with the less than friendly staff. He grabbed it to pull in front of himself and launched at the man, with the metal panel acting less than a shield and more as a containment unit.

The blast sent him backward, through the doors that he was going to exit willingly just seconds previously. At that moment he hated the fact that Jack had to jinx him on the plane with that stupid thumbs up.

IN THE AIR 7:58 AM

"Come on Jack, this is serious." Mac couldn't keep himself but laugh at Jack's uncle jokes.

"And I am taking the THING file very serious," Jack said as his worry lines were accentuated by the smile that he cracked. "If they didn't want us to laugh at it, they shouldn't have named it THING."

"It's an acronym." Mac reminded for the millionth time.

"I know it's a crime." Jack teased. Mac was 99% sure that he was plenty capable of showing his intelligence once in a while but found it more amusing to irritate his young blonde partner. "Relax Mac. All we have to do is get Ri close enough to do her THING and we do our THING to not get made."

"It will not be that easy and you know it. It never is." Mac shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"I thought you were Mr. Optimistic? What happened?" Jack read his silence perfectly as he was well versed in MacGyver-Speak. "It was James. Man Mac, I know he is your dad and all but if you are not ready you don't have to make an effort yet. Give it time."

"I really don't want to talk about this. Not before a mission Jack."

"At least tell me what happened to bother you so much?"

"No. I don't want to talk about it. Period. Not now, not later." Mac turned his head and Jack understood that as 'drop it.'

"Fine, but you know I am always here for you when you do want to just talk."

"I know, thank you for always listening."

"Anytime man. Now I am going to take a short nap."

"Jack we still have over half the mission details."

"Fill me in on the important stuff as we go." Jack took in an angry stare from his partner, which he could feel burning through his eyelids. "Relax. We always get out in one piece, this time won't be any different." Jack gave two thumbs up with a childish look on his face that replaced the blonde's anger with amusement.

VENEZUELA 3:03 PM

Mac found it hard to breathe as if he were drowning in a coppery substance. Warm liquid oozed out down the front of him. It burned. It all burned. His fingers, his back, his head (probably a concussion but he tucked that knowledge away), throat, chest. He couldn't get any oxygen in. Every attempt filled his lungs with more liquid. At first, the voices were a dull roar that had now turned into a high pitch ringing. _This is it,_ Mac thought to himself. _This is what dying feels like? Little anticlimactic._ The blue sky danced around his vision before he fell into complete darkness.

Jack hurried to his feet and rushed to his partner who was closest to the blast. Mac had crimson down all over the top half of his body. Jack yelled for him to be okay, but the boy made no indication that he even heard him. Paramedics had already seen the blast and rushed to the victims who would have probably been arrested and held until Matty called to bail them out. They pushed past Jack who glared at them with an intensity level that not even Matty could achieve. They recognized the Delta as someone who was not to be trifled with and allowed him to be as close as possible without getting in the way.

Riley watched in horror as a pool began to form around her coworker, friend, younger brother. She wanted everything to scoop him up and put him back together without the need for any medical assistance, but she knew she was not capable of such miracles. She knew that those emotions needed to be tucked away and she needed to check on Bozer who too was watching in fear. Riley saw the left side of his head begin to leak a crimson liquid but Bozer pays no mind to it as if he had no idea that it was even happening. "Bozer," She tried to get his attention, but her first attempt came out as nothing more than a weak whisper in the chaos. She cleared her throat in order for words to escape. "Bozer. You're bleeding."

"What?" Bozer said weakly as he watched his best friend and roommate get paler each second. "I am?" he lifted his hand to his head and wiped away some of it, just for it to immediately get covered back up. "Oh, I am. It is fine." Riley knew that what he was feeling were adrenaline and shock and that he was probably not okay.

"Bozer, let's get you checked out."

"Riley, you think he's gonna make it?"

"I don't know Boze, but if you have a head injury, it isn't gonna make anything better." Bozer silently agreed with Riley and walked over to the open ambulance to be greeted by another pair of medics. The duo watched Jack standover Mac's bloodied body and could almost see the tears falling freely from his face.

LA COUNTY HOSPITAL, TWO MONTHS LATER

Jack had visited his pale partner again and sat down next to him and began to mumble and rant about the happenings of the outside world. "Come on Mac." Jack dragged his hands down his face and left them over his mouth. "Wake up already. You don't need that much beauty rest."

A strange voice cut through Jack's worries and startles him as he didn't hear anyone come in. "Here," James offered him a hospital style coffee, which Jack gladly accepted. The two sat in silence, or what they could get of it past the machines that kept Mac's body functioning. "I hate seeing him like this."

"Yeah, me too." Jack had a few choice words about ready to spill from his mouth. Before he could say any of them James sat down behind him and began speaking.

"You know the weekend before, we met up at that dinner he likes for the first time. He walked in ready to talk, but he avoided everything he felt like saying. I bet he had an entire speech prepared to say to me. But now? I don't even know what he wanted to say. I had been watching him for some time, as you know, I knew his how he was as an agent, but not as a person. I think my dad did a better job at raising him then I would have. I was so cold to him after his mom died."

"James, sir I-"

"No, Jack. You need to know. I thought I was doing what was right and if I am honest with you, I feel like it was the right choice for him. Not for our relationship, but for the person he has become. He is better than me and I am so proud of him. I am proud he hasn't turned out like me. I am an awful role model. After his mom died, he had no one to show him how to care, after all the woman was still showing me how to do the same thing. I couldn't have him turn out like me. I blame my absence on Welsh, but in reality, it is because I was an awful man and didn't want that for him. His mother and I loved him and raised him the best we could at first but he blamed me for his mother's death for some childish reason and I did too. I didn't know how to handle it. So I left. And just as we start making headway into rebuilding our relationship, he-" James looked down into his back coffee and Jack could see how pale he was from exhaustion and worry.

"He is a tough kid, I'll give him that. But man he never stopped looking for you. He wanted to ask you so many questions, mostly why's, but he wanted to see f you still cared. He thought it would have been better if you had turned out to have been kidnapped or helping Welsh instead of hunting him. He wanted things to have been different. He didn't blame you for his mom's death, he blamed himself. As if his very existence was the thing that made his mom sick. He blamed himself for you leaving. And on Harry dying. All of it he blamed on himself. He wants to have a good relationship with you, but he is worried he will push you away and doesn't trust you not to hate him."

"He told you all that?"

"In so many ways, yeah."

"I would never, I-I didn't know." James' eyes became overwhelmed with sadness at this discovery. James got a message on his phone and his sunken eyes became more worried. "I need to-I can't leave him."

"Man if it's going to be a matter of urgent national security, you need to go. I will be here for him. The doc says he could be asleep for a year or more. The world still goes even if Mac sleeps. You need to make sure he still has one to come back to. And if he does wake up I will call you and let him know that you were here for him and I made you leave for nothing short of saving the world."

"Thank you." James walked over to the opposite side of Mac and brushed his hair from his face and kissed his forehead. "I am so sorry Angus. I will be back okay?" James said in his best fatherly voice. Even if he couldn't speak James hoped he could listen.

Soon after James left Jack also got a text saying they needed him in action. "Wake up soon Hoss." Jack gave him a pat on the arm and stared at his smaller frame when Jack saw movement in Mac's facial features. "Woah, there. I didn't mean this soon." Jack immediately pressed the call for the nurses' button and called Matty. "Yeah I got movement from Mac, I'll call you after the doc gives me more info." And promptly hung up the phone so that he could stay with Mac. Matty would understand that his boy comes first. There are other teams who can do the job, not just the one with a man down.

A few moments later he was both disappointed and excited at the progress Mac was making. He was told that it was completely normal for comatose patients to wake up and then go back to being unresponsive, it was actually a good sign for that to happen. It meant that Mac was fighting to wake up, fighting to come back to his family.

TWO MORE MONTHS LATER 11:38 PM

Matty, Jack, Bozer, and Riley, sat in Mac's hospital room and talked around him, to him, about him. The tried desperately to get him back into a responsive state, which he had done several times since the first. Each lasting no more than a minute or so. It was late but the hospital staff had already been told, via a favor of Matty's to let the Phoenix family visit after hours. Riley and Jack, being the closest, were the first to notice Mac's twitch, and at first, they brushed it off to just that, a twitch. Something he did frequently, but this was different. His hand glided to meet Riley's, which she took in sheer surprise, and his eyes opened and roamed to room. Jack followed the same procedure he'd always followed. Get nurse, then engage.

"Hey bud," Jack touched Mac's hair for what felt like the thousandth time. "How are you doing?"

Mac didn't even look in Jack's direction, instead, he starred at the nurses who came rushing in to greet him with a smile. Jack knew something was off. Not just then, but when Mac finally looked at Jack, he looked puzzled. He went to go say something, which Jack had never made it this far yet, but was choked up by the machine that made sure he would always keep breathing. "Hey, hey. Don't try to talk," Saying those words hurt Jack, if this was the time that Mac would stay awake, this would be the time that someone would have to break the news to him.

Mac didn't seem to pay notice to the words that came from Jack's mouth. "Hey, I said don't do that." Jack grabbed Mac's face and watched his eyes widen. "Mac, what's wrong buddy?"

"Jack you just told him not to talk."

"Hey, he doesn't have to talk for me to know what's wrong, I read and speak everything MacGyver." They watched Mac's eyes go from one person to another in fear as the nurses and the doctor did all the standard checks.

Mac watched each person's lips move, but that was all there was it. Movement, no sound. He couldn't hear Jack probably telling him not to speak, or Riley talking back to him. He couldn't hear the lingo that the nurses were talking back and forth to each other with. The doctor loomed over him and his lips started moving too but nothing came from them.

"Mr. MacGyver, I am Dr. Monroe. Do you know where you are?" A light zoomed past his eyes.

"Doc, something is wrong."

"I know, his body is responsive but it is like he ca-" The doctor's eyes widened. "I want those head scans and you to run similar tests to the ones we conducted when he first arrived."

"Yes, doctor." One nurse ran down the hall immediately.

"What is going on?" Jack pressed forward.

"Your son may be having some issues hearing." The doctor stood up and looked Jack dead in the eyes remorseful. Jack didn't want to correct the man at this time so he could tend to his 'son' better. "Mr. MacGyver, move your left hand if you can hear me."

There was no movement besides the tears that began to gather at Mac's eyes. "No, Mac. It's okay, they will fix you up. It's okay." Jack took one of Mac's hands and held his head with the other. "We will figure something out."

"How are we going to tell him the other part of this now?" Riley leaned against the wall with a hand on Matty's shoulder, both to comfort Matty and steady herself.

"I know it is odd to ask usually, but does he know sign language?" The doctor moved around Mac to examine his responses and time, which Mac jumped at every touch he couldn't see the doctor at.

"Um, yeah." Jack shook his head. "He does. He has a friend Carrie Linden, I believe. She is deaf and teaches a school of deaf children. He learned it a while back when he was helping build a machine that would give children the ability to hear for the first time."

"That is great. We can get a translator in here to assist in telling him what is happening, what his options are and-"

"Options? He helps make a doohickey to help kids hear, can he use something like that himself?"

"Yes, although it would take months to a few years to get all the surgeries done for it." Jack's shoulders fell. No way was the kid going to put himself through multiple surgeries willingly, that would take some major convincing and a lot of dealing with a frustrated MacGyver.

Soon the sign language translator was in the room with MacGyver watching tentatively through the tears as she explained what had happened. Mac weakly raised his arms to sign a few words before his arms fell limply back to the bed. She nodded and spoke to Jack, who attempted to keep up with the pace that she was signing it, but lost her at hello. "He understands what has happened and that things are going to be difficult. He knows he will be seeing a lot more of me as he long as he stays here at the hospital as well."

"You didn't tell him he could leave anytime soon, did you?"

"No I told him a doctor and I would be back in to give him that time estimate, he did ask." She nodded in Matty's direction and left the room.

"Did she tell him the other half of it?" Bozer looked desperate to help but powerless to do so. "He needs to know."

"I think he knows, I also think he needs to rest," Matty said as she watched Mac's eyes fight to stay open. "Jack, I know you so I am going to give this order as politely as I can."

"Matty, I-"

"No, don't talk. Here's what I need you to do. Go home, shower, sleep and come back well rested tomorrow morning to be with him. Morning doesn't mean four in the morning either. It means 9 and 10 AM. This is an order. He needs rest, you need rest, we all need rest. Let's go as soon as Mac falls asleep."

Jack lowered his head and grabbed the note pad that he had been drawing on before. "Fine, fine." Jack scribbled something down and tore it off, turning it over in his hands nervously again and again.

Mac's eyes fluttered shut and they all watched him for a long time before they deemed him asleep. Jack set the note just underneath Mac's right hand and was the last one to leave Mac's side.

NEXT MORNING 8:58 AM

Salem, the nice sign language interpreter, walked with Jack to Mac's room to find him with a neurologist and Dr. Monroe. Jack saw that Mac had a pen and paper and was 'speaking' with the doctors. He decided to let them finish what they were talking about and then bring in the interpreter. He wasn't sure what they were talking about, but he knew that whatever it was was his decision. All Jack cared about was that Mac was awake for good this time. Awake but not out of the woods yet.

Jack did notice that his breathing system was set up differently, it wasn't a tube in his throat but an oxygen mask. Mac probably wanted more freedom from them. Everything that constricts his freedom. No doubt he would try to get free from that soon as well. Mac's eyes looked sad, not just puppy who'd been kicked sad, a child who'd been neglected by the world. It mad Jack want to bring that bastard of a terrorist back to life just to kill him again.

Mac looked up to see Jack and tried to muster some sort of half smile. Jack wished he didn't. He didn't try to be happy when the whole world knew he was suffering. Jack's hand nervously crunched the handles of the bag he had snuck in. At this point he hadn't snuck anything in, it just felt like he had to due to all the watchful eyes, with the miracle patient waking up. The doctor had said it could take years to wake up from that kind of brain and physical trauma, now only four months later he is awake. Yeah, with Mac's looks he is a hit with the nurses for that too. But there is only so much his charm can do for him.

Mac went to go remove the plastic mask. Jack point at him and began to shake his finger. "Oh no Mac-" Jack stopped himself, knowing Mac couldn't see him and he was probably too far away to read his lips correctly. "Mac, I am sorry man." Jack took his seat next to him, the seat that had been his for four months, the seat that would be his more a few more weeks. Jack would be at his side every step of the way, every word Mac couldn't hear or speak, Jack would be there listening to the unspoken.

Mac wanted to look away, but if he did he'd miss something crucial to what's happening to the world he couldn't fully be a part of. Jack reached in his bag and pulled out two preschool style Magna Doodles. Mac looked at the sheets and back up with a giant grin, a true grin. Not one painted on or forced through social pressures. Pure amusement and it was infectious. Jack grinned from ear to ear and handed his partner one and immediately began scribbling.

HEY MAN HOW YOU HOLDING UP?

FINE

DONT LIE HOSS, I KNOW U BETTER THAN THAT

BAD, CANT HEAR, VOCAL CORDS PERMANENTLY DAMAGED. A piece of shrapnel had been launched into Mac's throat and sliced through his vocal box and cords, filling his trenchea with blood. Mac had been drowning in his own blood and the paramedics had sliced into his throat and created a separate airway. Jack had visited that paramedic several times before Mac was stable enough to be transferred across seas back to LA. He was so grateful for everything that happened after the explosion. Before the explosion, Jack hated every minute of what he couldn't prevent.

YEAH, I KNOW. S.O.B MAN I AM SORRY I COULDNT STOP HIM

WE COULDNT HAVE KNOWN

BESIDES THAT HOW YOU FEEL

FINE

MAC…

TIRED

HAVENT YOU SLEPT ENOUGH TO LAST A LIFETIME?

Mac smiled and leaned back against a mound of pillows. He scribbled something down and flashed it at Jack. IT IS LIKE A CONSTANT RINGING IN MY EARS, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE QUIETER.

IS IT LOUD?

REALLY LOUD. I KEEP TOUCHING MY EARS TO GET IT TO STOP BUT ITS JUST RINGING.

TALK TO THE DOC ABOUT IT?

NO, PROBABLY NOTHING HE CAN DO ABOUT IT.

SUCKS MAN, SORRY.

I WILL GET USED TO IT.

I will? Jack knew when Mac started being all proper and separated his words instead of using contractions, he was having some issues comprehending his situation.

ANYTHING ELSE? IM HERE.

I CAN STILL HEAR MY OWN VOICE AND IT IS THE ONLY THING BESIDES THE RINGING. Mac let the board fall onto the bed and looked at his hands like they were trying to grab something to pull himself out of a nightmare.

Jack grabbed one of Mac's hands and pulled him into a hug. Jack wanted everything to be okay. He wanted Mac to feel safe. There was only so much he could do to help him. Jack hadn't seen when Mac wrote something on the boards but he finally noticed it when Mac tried so weakly to push him away. He barely even noticed it. "What's up?"

Mac urged to board to him. Jack read it. CANT BREATHE JACK.

"Sorry." Jack let him go and watched him slide the handle to erase it and begin again.

DOC SAID THEY HAVE A PROCEDURE TO HELP ME GET SOME HEARING BACK.

AND..?

I SET UP SOME APPOINTMENTS

ALREADY?

YEAH, THE SOONER THE LESS LIKELY THIS IS COMPLETELY PERMANENT. Jack cursed under his breath, he knew Mac was trying to calculate the probability that he'd get even some of his hearing back. He needed to find a way to keep him out of his own head. The kid was too damned smart for his own good. Could drive himself crazy just staring at a wall if you let him.

ARE YOU SURE? HAVE YOU LOOKED AT ALL THE POSSIBILITIES.

I KNOW ABOUT ALL THESE TYPES OF PROCEDURES, THESE TEND TO HELP. Help? Jack's heart broke, the kid didn't even sound confident in what he wrote. The one place you could hide your emotions and he couldn't even muster the strength to do that.

A FEW WEEKS LATER-HOUSE OF MACGYVER

"Easy there Mac," Jack said aloud trying not to draw his attention with the low hoarse vibrations of his own voice. Mac had gotten really good at that. Feeling things. It was astonishing how well he could sense things moving. Made him even more of a deer on constant alert. Every set of footsteps, every deep voice or one high enough to cause vibrations. Mac has even gotten as far as guessing the footsteps correctly. "If you are going to be released early, you are going by docs orders. Strictly." Mac laughed as if he already knew the lecture Jack was giving. But grimaced in pain after taking the step into his house too fast and too hard. "I said easy." Mac nodded knowing exactly what Jack was trying to convey.

Five months in a hospital, no matter how many times he asked the nurses to take him around the halls, he still felt sore. Jack warned the nurses not to let him run around the hospital because he'd do it. Also, Jack had requested Matty to station a guard from Phoenix outside of his hospital room to make sure he didn't try to escape. Which he tried, several times.

Mac never really liked hospitals and he'd alluded to the reasoning being his mom always in and out of them until she wasn't able to leave anymore. He had spent time watching her waste away in a hospital bed and was afraid of the same thing happening to him if he spent too long at even a checkup. He didn't want to find out if he was sick like his mom was. He hoped that if he took good enough care of himself, he'd live a long and healthy life. That he'd rather die under gunfire, not saying that is the most pleasant way to go but it was better than wasting away in a hospital.

Jack suppressed Mac's hands from swatting at him after mother-henning him to the couch. Mac tried to get up but Jack told him with his hands to stay put. Mac rolled his eyes but listened to Jack.

One by one, Riley, Bozer, Leanna, and Matty walked down the hall. Mac shot them an eyebrow because the look on their face told him they were planning something, something stupid to cheer him up. They raised their hands in sync as if they had practiced it and began making hand motions. Mac recognized it as: _We are here for you._ Mac smiled slightly but was more curious about how they all knew sign language.

Riley stepped forward and began to flawlessly maneuver her hands. _We began to learn sign language when we found out that you wouldn't be able to speak, so that way you would not be alone._

Mac made a motion that dictated laughing but wiped away a tear. He looked up at Jack. _Yeah, me too._

Mac buried his face in his hands and made choking sobs. "Not the reaction we were looking for." Jack sat next to Mac on the couch and rubbed circles on his back. Mac looked up to the group and mouthed: Thank you.

Mac raised his own hands. _I love you all._

Later after Mac had his fill of amusement and finally convinced to take his medication, he lay on the couch asleep. Jack was in the kitchen cleaning up his fair share of the mess and Bozer beginning to make a new one with dinner. Matty had been called away and Riley and Leanna went off to grab some stuff to spend the night. It was game night and after a lot of stress, they were not going to miss it. Matty would stop back in later to wish the team well and leave again.

"He looked happy," Bozer said as he diced onions quickly and aggressively.

"Yeah, for a while." Jack put down his dish when he heard a choking whine come from the couch. A hand shot up and legs kicked out. Mac wasn't having the most pleasant dream. A muted cough broke out from his lungs.

"Is that Mac?" Bozer set his knife down and gave Jack a worried look.

"Yeah, Doc says it's fine," Jack walked over to Mac and took one of the throws from his feet and lifted Mac's head to prop him up. His eyes fluttered open, filled with confusion he accepted Jack's assistance and pillow. Jack pressed two fingers to Mac's neck under the jaw. No doubt checking if he was alive. "Doc says that he might have trouble breathin' sometimes due to the scarring in his vocal cords that impede breathing while lying down there is a surgery he can get to widen his throat. But he'll always have issues. It's a miracle he is still alive. He lost so much blood and- and-"

"It's okay Jack." Bozer rested a hand on Jack's shoulder as they both watched Mac doze back off. "He is alive. He is here. He is a fighter."

"Part of his nerd thing relies on hearing, and communication on missions is a big thing. He isn't going to be cleared by medical to go back to work. Ever. It's too dangerous to go in without communication or hearing, makes it easy for a bad guy to sneak up on you."

"We will figure something out Jack. I swear." Bozer sighed and pulled up the blanket that had been bunched up at Mac's feet, tucking it at the chin, just the way Mac likes it. "We treat him like a kid, you know that right?"

Jack drew in a long breath and starred wishfully at Mac. "Yep, but that's okay as long as he stays safe." He walked back over to the kitchen where everything layout. "Better get stuff together before the ladies get back and Mac is actually awake, awake and not just barely keeping his head up."

"How long you think he's going to take his meds? He and meds don't mix well."

"Probably the first week or so before we start slipping it to him." Bozer laughed but he knew that Jack would do it if Mac became too defiant.

The next couple weeks were hard on Mac, with losing his hearing it tends to throw off your balance so he was told he could not lock the bathroom door in case of an emergency. He was forced to carry around an alarm similar to the ones firefighters use. He hated it and they could all see it, but until he had a better sense of balance it made them feel better. Mac had been to endless doctors appointments and had a minor surgery set up for the following day to repair some of the damage to his eardrums from the impact of the explosion.

Jack had already been packing an overnight back and he glanced at his Magna doodles, which they only had use for with very strange and abnormal words they weren't sure about, he wished they didn't need them in the first place. He grabbed them and shoved one in each bag and Mac walked in and immediately shook his head at Jack. "What man?"

Mac signed _Nothing_. With a giant grin, he walked out to finish getting ready for his trip to the hospital. Jack knew that the kid needed to try to get back what sound or speech he could to try and get his life on track. Whether he'd be stuck in a labor not all depended if he could pass the combat tests that Medical had to step up for him, but he also knew that even if he passed the Medical test Mac would still struggle. Struggle to ask for help more than he already does. Struggle to open up. Struggle to keep out of his own head.

"I'm a sorry man," Jack whispered had he zipped up the bags. "This is my fault. Dammit."

As if summoned Mac came back in the room and sat on the bed in front of Jack with a frown. _No_, Mac signed.

Jack painted on a smile and raised his shoulders in a questioning way.

_I know what you were thinking,_ Mac, slapped his hands on his thighs to let Jack know his attitude towards the situation.

_You do not have powers._

_But I know my partner,_ Mac scowled at him. Jack knew he had a point and that there was nothing he could have done to prevent what happened without it ending differently. Mac sacrificed everything to keep his team- no, his family- safe. Jack wouldn't know what to do without one if his kids, but to see them struggle to even be apart if the world around them hurt just as bad.

I know you do. Let's finish getting ready. Mac didn't seem to happy with this idea either. He knee Mac hated being cooped up all day in one place, but in a hospital after surgery? If Mac believed in the sort of thing, Jack would bet he'd try to make a deal with the Devil himself, to get out of the hospital. "I know bud." Sometimes even though he knew Mac couldn't hear him he'd still give him words if safety and reassurance out of habit.

That night Jack stayed the night in the spare room next to Mac's, Bozer at Leanna's, which he forgot to ask about. It had been quite a few months since Bozer stood nervously in the War Room after spending the night with his girlfriend so maybe they had figured things out. Mac wished he could have offered his assistance in the situation, but he was a bit preoccupied with being in a coma and all. He had missed so much. Riley might be leaving to go move in with the Colton's, Bozer and Leanna found a place they are renting, Jack finally started to go to coffee with the front desk lady, Cynthia. Even his dad had to leave for a bit again and no one has seen or made contact with him, which Jack explained that it was urgent and he didn't want to leave but he had to. So much he had missed his the time he was asleep and nothing he could do besides hope that he hadn't been left behind.

He didn't want to do the surgeries, but he also didn't want to be completely deaf either. He had a chance to go back to normal, or as normal as a secret agent can be if he got the surgery. If he didn't get it. He wouldn't be clear to go on another mission and even if they did allow him in the lab, he'd have to have someone in the lab with him at all times to make sure that no accidents occurred. He'd still have to have that anyway. It sucked. Having to be babysat so you don't burn down the building because if something you have no influence over. Mac wished that he was forced to have a lab buddy beforehand so he didn't feel like he was as much as a burden for whatever sorry soul got stuck with him. Mac was positive his lab buddy would rather be working on their own projects not babysitting him on his.

Anxiety began to build up as he saw Jack set the overnight bags by the front door. It was really happening. He was going to be put under anesthesia and his eardrums would be as repaired as they could before they implanted a device that would assist in the healing process. There was no guarantee that this was going to work. There was no guarantee that he wouldn't go back into a coma. No guarantee about anything. No control over anything besides the decision. But he had to do it. He had to have Jack's back. To make sure his family got home each day. He had to try even if it was hopeless. There was no guarantee, but he would improvise with what he had. And what he had was two options with equal drawbacks and equal benefits, but only one option gave him a chance to be with his family.

That night Mac couldn't sleep, he didn't want to. He needed to be able to still wake up. This had been an issue for a while. He was afraid that if he went to sleep he'd wake up four more months later but this time everyone would give up on him. Leave him behind. But that night was especially bad. He imagined he could feel Jack's snoring and his tossing and turning. He imagined he could feel the wind on the outside of the house. There was too much riding on this, no time to sleep. He'd get enough sleep tomorrow.

THE NEXT DAY AFTER THE SURGERY

Mac had been placed in a similar bed to the one that he had spent too long in and Jack in a similar uncomfortable chair that he had worried too much in. It was nerve-wracking. The doctor had said five to eight hours and he should be awake. It has been nine and a half. Jack knew that some people stay asleep longer than others once anesthesia was introduced into their systems, but it didn't stop him from silently praying that he'd hurry and wake up soon. There was an unconscious fear that Mac would spend another four months in a coma and that this time he'd wake up with no memory at all. He knew that's not how things worked but he had already lost so much that he was afraid of the world trying to take more.

Two hours ago Mac still had a tube in his throat from surgery, but a sweet nurse replaced it with nasal tubing which would bother the hell out of the kid once he woke up. The nurses and doctors still knew the Phoenix family by their first names and Jack doubted that the staff would ever forget Mac's name (or face). The nurses kept calling him Angus while he was asleep, one still does, until Jack had corrected them enough. 'He doesn't like Mr. MacGyver and he doesn't like Angus, call him Mac.' Jack had repeated that to every new nurse and new doctor on a new shift. But one, Nurse Rebecca (or Bec), had insisted on calling him Angus to see if it would help annoy him out of his coma since everyone was smothering him and babying him. She was a nice nurse who believed in tough love for her most stubborn patients, which Mac was stubborn. She would sit with a chess board every day and come in and remind 'Angus' it was his turn and he didn't need to think about it that long even if chess was a game of patience and strategy. One day she had walked into her new shift, without knowing that Mac had woken up, and saw that Mac had played his turn. No one had told her just for that moment. Jack had just barely woken up at the movement from the nurse as she, with a smile wide, played her turn before checking his vitals. Jack smiled at her as she caught his eye. Bec had been Mac's favorite nurse from that point on. She would come in on her breaks to finished their games and start a new one when they could. It had been good for Mac to have someone challenge him on an intellectual level as she did.

Jack was surprised when Bec had entered the room that day with a smile and a chessboard. "Thought my favorite patient could use some extra help getting the gears in his head to go the right direction."

"I've tried to do the same but-"

"You suck at chess." Bec, was a light-hearted woman, with dark hair, and a knack for calling people out in the least offensive way.

"You still haven't won a game against him."

"Well if your friend didn't have such a high IQ, maybe we could be an even match."

"Are you saying you don't have a high enough IQ?"

"I am saying that I am average and he is not. He has the ability to make everything move around him in just the right position for him to work with it."

"He improvises a lot," Jack admitted.

"Well, let's see if his smarts have rubbed off on you and made you a better chess player."

"You're on."

"Alright old man, let's see if you can outsmart me. If you can, dinner is on me for you two. Not cafeteria food either. That taco stands across the street you guys like. I have a few coupons you can have." Jack smiled knowing that he wouldn't be able to get those coupons even if his life depended on it. This nurse was told that Mac might not ever wake up, yet she persevered. She was told not to get emotionally attached, yet she did. Jack didn't understand her, but he appreciated the distraction she provided the two of them.

"I will eat to that. And if you win?"

"You have to tell Angus how I kicked your ass in chess again." Jack laughed, knowing that even that small inappropriate language could cost her her job. She was a sweet kid.

"Deal."

Jack had played her game and was about to lose he knew he was, she had taken half the board and Jack only two of her pons. Jack examined the board as he would a battleground, hoping to find a way to outsmart the enemy (Bec), take out the main guard (her queen), and still manage to catch the crime lord (her king) with just a knight, a bishop, a rook, pon and his king. Jack had managed to get his pon to the back of her side and triumphantly raised his arms. "That has to count for something!"

Bec smiled and replaced his pon with his queen, that she had taken at the start of the game. He rubbed his hands together in joy thinking now he'd be able to get somewhere. Jack was about to move his queen into action after Bec so graciously let him keep her when Mac let out a choked cough. Jack immediately turned his head to look at him and Mac was shaking his head 'no.' Jack reexamined the board and realized that in one move he could put her in check with his bishop, but then she'd just take his bishop with her queen. Jack rubbed his head in frustration and offered Mac a shot, moving the board closer to him. He moved the rook straight forward in a spot where none of her pieces, not even her overpowered queen could prevent the capture.

She smiled at the groggy Mac hoping that with Jack butchering the board and the effects of the anesthetic wearing off, she might win against the Great Angus. She moved her own bishop in front of the king, not realizing that she had now opened up and space for Jack's newly found queen to put her in check. Mac moved the rook forward one space, taking the bishop and removing any hope for escape. She stared at the board and blinked a few times before realizing her own defeat.

"Jack, I guess I owe you some food cart coupons. Although, it was Mac who won, not you."

"He and I are a package deal."

"Alright. I'll go get the doctor." She gestured a thumbs up or thumbs down for Mac to return his own answer, which he waved his in the middle. "I'll be back for a proper rematch."

"Oh, and we will win." Once she left Jack assumed he had a minute or two to talk with Mac. _Hey. How do you feel?_

Mac gave the same thumb motion he gave to Bec. Which was sort of honest, he didn't feel great, but he didn't say he wasn't suffering. Jack brushed the hair out of the blonde's face, his fingertips lightly grazing over the bandages wrapped around his ears and head. Usually, the surgery would happen one ear at a time but Mac had requested both. It was a small piece if mechanical amplifiers that allowed vibrations to pass through the damaged eardrums and occur at a strong enough frequency to transfer the vibrations into sound.

_How do your ears feel?_

_Pain._

_Can you hear?_

Mac frowned as confusion filled his eyes. Jack had asked too many questions at once, but it was okay because the doctor had come in at that moment, with Salem. Jack smiled at the doctor and translator and stepped aside to let them do their thing.

Jack could keep up a little better this time but that was partial because she was going slower due to Mac's drowsiness. She asked him if he was in pain, if he had any dizziness, nausea or a headache, and if he can hear. He in return motioned no to everything but the last one he was unsure of.

"What does he mean he doesn't know?" Jack asked with concern that everyone in the room could feel before he spoke.

"Sometimes after surgeries things that may have already become a norm may have shifted, ringing in the ears, static, etc."

"He did say he had a ringing in his ears when all this started." Jack rubbed his face as he saw his partner shift in discomfort, he knew from experience and the look on Mac's face that he was getting nauseated. "Is it normal to feel sick after the surgery?" Jack asked the doctor absently staring at his partner until Mac caught Jack's eyes looking at him.

"Well since it is one of the senses, he might be feeling dizzy, like the room is spinning...And that could cause him to be ill, yes."

"How long does all this last?"

"Hard to tell, a few days, weeks. Sometimes it comes in symptoms representing vertigo. Nothing serious but he will need to keep hydrated more often in case he does become sick." Mac squeezed his eyes shut and Jack could tell he was trying to keep his stomach where it should be. "Three days and he is free to go home." Salem signed to Mac who cracked his eyes at her. He shook his head and held up one finger. Damnit. Jack knew the kid was done with hospitals. He was probably going to check himself out the moment Jack went for a bathroom break. Jack shook his head and pointed to the doctor with three fingers held up once Mac's eyes focused on him. The blonde immediately looked like he was being tortured by the thought of it alone. "I know man." Mac looked back at Jack with confused eyes but quickly looked back to Salem who was signing faster now that Mac was a little more conscious.

The doctor and Salem began to leave Mac to rest as Jack followed them out. "Hey, Doc?"

"Yes?"

"When will all this," Jack motioned a finger and wrapped it around his head like the bandages on Mac. "When will we know if it worked or not?"

"Well, we will monitor his behaviors to sound, put him through the testing children go through to determine how well they hear. We will track his progress and once he is clear to remove the bandages we will figure just how well it worked."

"Alright, thank you, Doc." Jack turned to head back into his kid before the doctor stopped him again.

"Nausea, it's not particularly normal. We usually only do the surgery one at a time. He specifically requested for both to be done today. He was under anesthesia longer than most of these type of patients. We have given him just the nerve blockers for the surgery, but once those wear off, he told us he doesn't want any more. Nausea will get worse. He chose all of this. Do we need to bring a psychologist in for some guidance? These actions seem reckless and rushed. Your friend is smart, but sane people usually don't choose to go through a double surgery with no pain medications and try to be released early from the hospital."

"He just isn't fond, but he's sane enough."

"I'm not saying he isn't but there might be some sort of guilt he is punishing himself for. Something he needs to get off his chest?"

"Thank you Doc, I'll observe him for a while. See what he needs. I might take you up on that offer later."

Mac, of course, refused any additional services that the hospital had to offer, even if it was a Phoenix moderated facility (because top secret agents can't be loopy in just any hospital), Mac didn't want to bother with anything besides getting back to work. The doctor had come in on the last day of Mac's sentence and assisting with the checking out process and that was the last of the hospital they had seen for a while, even when Mac was throwing up excessively. Mac was even more off balance and more nauseated than when he was at the hospital, only standing up when he felt okay with throwing up. They all began to notice Mac's gradual decrease in the frequency that he would empty the contents, usually, he didn't have much of anything unless Bozer and Jack convinced him to eat. It began as just walking more than ten steps, then a few hours, then once a day, then it became a rare occasion. Mac began to get his color back but was definitely hiding something. Mac got this shy look on his face when he was trying to hide something, and Jack knew that when his boy was around him he was anything but shy. Something he didn't want Jack to know. Maybe the surgery was a bust and he didn't want Jack to know that anything was different? An anxious feeling built up in Jack's gut. All this pain was for nothing?

The next months rolled by and Mac seemed more willing to go back to the doctor, this time a hearing specialist instead of Salem and the good doctor. Strictly tests and measuring how much hearing Mac may or may have not gained. Mac wanted to go alone but since he still wasn't cleared from vertigo to drive by Matty, who strictly told him no driving or running by himself. Jack didn't really mind going for runs with Mac, but damn, five miles each way? Mac had cut it down to only one mile there and back for Jack, which he had no problem keeping up with, but Jack didn't think Mac was ready for that level of exercise. After only being able to walk around the house without throwing up.

The testing was set up in Phoenix Medical with the head medical examiners who determined what level of the hearing was acceptable to go back to working on the field. He had to score below 24 decibels in order to be allowed back on the field with hearing modifiers anything above that considered too high of a hearing loss to be allowed.

Jack impatiently walked the hallways as Mac endured the tests given to him. Half an hour went by and Jack was waved in as the doctors left Mac alone in a chair as they went into the back room to talk. That was bad. Really bad. That means they had something to talk about. Mac's eyes glued to a clock like a screen and Jack's eyes followed where his blue eyes were leading. 27. Mac's score was 27. 25 they may have forgiven easily, but 27? But this means that he could hear. Just not well. He needed to double check to be sure though.

"Hey man," Jack smiled when Mac looked up. "Pizza and beers afterward?" Mac forced a smile on and nodded.

"How long have you known?" Mac stopped to piece the sounds together but eventually told Jack that he could hear some stronger noises for about two weeks. What he didn't tell Jack, but he just instinctively knew was that Mac didn't say anything in fear of it being too good.

A few minutes of sitting in silence waiting in silence, which Jack could see Mac getting more and more nervous each minute, Jack had about had it with waiting. They either should say the kid is so good that his hearing could be worked around or that the kid was good but didn't have to risk his and other people's lives. The doctors had come back from the room with grim faces. Jack thought, _You better not give him the bad news._

"We have the decision, well advisement." The one who had actually administered his test said. He was an older guy with thinning salt and pepper hair, thin lines around his lips telling of how he smiled, and a cracking voice. "We advise that Mr. MacGyver's main decision be made by Director Matilda Weber and Oversight. But we see no reason, with your track record, that you wouldn't be helpful out there. Even with our concerns, we believe it would be unfair if we limited you based on a few decimals. But it will be required for you to get a type of hearing aids."

Jack nodded. "Will do Doc."

"As well as monthly checkups, regardless of what you come into medical with." They were talking more to Jack than they were Mac at this point, knowing that he was probably missing keywords.

"So we good to go?" Jack gave Mac a pat on the back that snapped him out of his own head. He looked surprised and scared. Jack knew he was thinking about the worst possible outcomes.

"Yes," The man said with a slight smile sweeping the old lines on his face. "Director Webber should have your job status the next time you come in."

Mac had been scheduled to be in next Monday so that gave them the weekend to do whatever Jack needed to pull the kid out of his head. Riley, Bozer, and Leanna would be over tonight after they get home from whatever mission they were sent on. They would need a release and Mac needed friends and family to be there with him, but of course, it wasn't that simple. When Jack and Mac got home, Mac immediately went to the workstation he'd set up and shut the door. He didn't seem mad, but he didn't seem happy. He needed a distraction and he was trying to play "Stay Away from Jack and I Don't Have to Face My Problems" but Jack wasn't having it.

"Open up Mac." Jack knocked on the door. "I don't want to sit in the living room board out of my mind." Of course, Jack got no answer. He knocked again and again before he attempted to invade Mac's space and try the door handle. It was locked. Jack knocked a little louder and a bit more impatient.

Mac finally cracked the door open showing his worried blue eyes and pale face but not much more. "Let me in." He spoke loud and clear so there would be no mistaking what he said. Jack knew that if Mac had to respond he could easily push passed him once Mac took his hands off the door to sign. But Jack didn't take advantage of this. He knew if he did it would hurt him, such a little move would devastate him.

_Why? Just go home. I'm fine._

"No dude, you're not." Jack crossed his arms to show that he wasn't going to force himself into Mac's space, but that he was firm in his position that he wanted to be there for him. "Come on just let me sit and watch you."

_What? _He hadn't caught all of what Jack had said.

_Just let me watch. _Jack signed and mouthed. Jack counted it a small victory when Mac let him in. Makeshift gadgets, most looked unfinished and others unstable, laid around the room in piles. Some of them looked burnt others didn't even look like they could start in the first place. Mac picked some of them up and moved them into other piles revealing a chair that had been suffocated in random junk. Jack moved the seat closer to Mac's workstation and watched him pick and pull at tiny objects until sparks flew and Mac shook his hands and mouthed a curse word before breaking off into choked coughs.

"You okay?" Jack went to grab Mac's hand before he caught himself from mother-henning him. Mac needed to know that he could still do things himself. Jack's eye caught a small pink and red patch on Mac's fingertips where he had burnt himself. Mac ignored it and Jack and went back to work.

Jack looked around the room and wondered how many hours of sleep Mac gave up to create all of this. A high pitch sound rang through the air getting more and more intense each second. Jack's hands flew up to his ears and Mac did the same a moment later. Such a little box made such a loud noise. It hurt so damn bad. Mac removed one of his hands and batted the machine off the table and on to the ground where he stomped on it, ending its reign of terror and assault upon their ears. Jack realized what all of these were. Mac had been testing for weeks the frequencies he could and could not hear when no one was home. Jack wanted to yell, partially because there was a screaming sound still ringing through his ears and the other half because Mac had been torturing himself and finding how limited he was.

"So you heard that one, huh?" Jack looked into Mac's eyes as the flung in his direction out of surprise and shame. A slight nod is all Jack got in response. "Mac doesn't do this to yourself."

_I have to know my limits. _Tears formed in his eyes he tried to quickly blink away but one successfully made its way down Mac's cheek before he wiped it away. _If I do go back to work, I need to know._

6:59 AM - WAR ROOM

Mac and Jack walked into the War Room taking Maty by surprise. "You two are here one minute early." She pointed out.

"Yes."

"Is there something your so eager to discover? Or are you just tired of being yelled at? Welcome back Blondie." Mac nodded showing that he heard her. He messed with the small black piece that was almost invisible if he'd stop messing with it. He was given hearing aids two weeks prior and had apparently been refusing to wear them if he didn't need to hear every detail.

Riley, Bozer, and Leanna walked in the room next all facing the surprise as Matty. "Mac had his little test the other day and the Doctor's said that you would make the final decision."

"They did. Oversight and myself Jack. Not just me. If it were me, I wouldn't have gotten in such an interesting conversation with my boss."

"And?"

Matty looked at Mac and back at the rest of the team. "Regarding your medical clearance, Oversight and I were at a disagreement."

"What does that mean? Does that mean he is a no-go? Because if he is-"

"No. Mac, you have been cleared to go on missions under very strict conditions. Period." Mac smiled and then became confused. "You are not to be separated from Jack or another member of your team in any circumstances. You must always carry at least two additional sets of your hearing aids in case of emergency. You must have your hearing re-evaluated every month. You must go to medical after every mission, every single mission. No matter how small. And, this is one I disagreed on, but you must carry a gun."

Mac froze at that last on slightly shaking his head. "I know you are against it Mac but-"

_Oversight can't make me carry a gun._

"Yes, but Oversight can and will pull you from the Phoenix roster if they want." Matty's lips perked up. "You must take a trip into the gun room, gear up, and choose a concealed weapon before each field mission."

Mac pieced together what she was saying and knew that her saying that he had to get a gun before each mission and if he chooses not to take one, that was on him. He'd be the one getting in trouble for that. Mac nodded.

"One that note, your next mission starts almost right away. Who knows who Danny Cabela is? No one? Well, he is a human trafficker and drug smuggler concur. Recently he has moved on to weapons. I want those guns off the streets before they get there and that bastard out of Brazil and into our custody so we can squeeze him for information about everyone who he has sold to. We have parents missing their kids and others burying their loved ones from overdoses." Matty winked at Mac before telling them to head out.

BRAZIL- DANNY'S HOUSE

Mac threw yet another man off his back. He had already taken punch after punch while tied up in the basement before they realized that he was mute, and he really didn't need any more bruises for Jack to become overprotective about. Mac chased after the man himself, eyes locked on Danny Cabela. He felt the grass behind him shift and the ground move. He identified two different vibrations, one barreling at him at around two hundred pounds of muscle and the other Jack so he knew he didn't have to worry when he felt Jack disconnect with the ground seconds before the other man did, right before making a thump. Jack had tackled the other man. Mac turned to see the exact moment Jack pistol-whipped him and made sure he wouldn't be getting up again. Danny was just ahead of him now. Mac could feel the staggering vibrations of Danny's own, smaller footsteps. Mac had managed to do some of his own damage while he was in the basement by kicking out at Danny's leg. This was enough to slow him down.

A more violent rumbling came from the woods, the direction Danny was running. Mac knew that that was either going to be his back up or escape, either way, those men probably had some guns and we not going to waste a single minute. Mac dove to the ground reaching out for Danny's bad leg and ripping him into a nearby bush and subjecting him to a restrictive headlock. The black SUV came in like a bullet, surveying the area before peeling out again, Mac couldn't see it but he could feel it happening. They did it. Danny wouldn't get away. They saved seven people from being sold off as human slaves and now they could go home. Mac pulled up Danny from the bushes and without turning around knew that someone was behind him, and it probably wasn't Jack or Riley. He turned around to see yet another one of Danny's men standing with a silver gun pointed dead center between his eyes. Mac blinked. A shot rang out. He was on the ground. Not Mac, but the man who had been teasing him with death nearly a second ago.

Jack had shot the man and was now coming to help Mac round up Danny. "This is why Matty said not to go off by yourself man. I mean I wish you would have listened to her before, but now works."

Mac smiled and shook his head. For once, more than just hiking or camping, he felt connected to the ground he stood on. He felt that after all this he was in a solid place after not knowing what it was going to be like to hear Jack lower Texan voice after a tough mission. Things were going to be okay.

At least that was until they weren't.

A/N: I know, I know. Very medically inaccurate, very strange. The way the decimals work are also wrong, I did do some research but hearing is still way above my level of understanding so I hope you can look past all the mistakes. Please forgive and I hope you liked it! Also, I will do a part 2. We can't have Mac so vulnerable without Murdoc, now can we?


End file.
